Rating: 
Summary: Real Fans Know the Difference!
Review: What did these new imagineers expect, the proverbial welcome wagon...a loyal following for so many years. The series was taken from us only after one season which left us real fans pretty bitter. Now out of the blue it comes back to us....re-imagined????? I think not. For twenty years the loyal fans have been reimagining already. But not changing the recipe on us after we've already agreed on the taste. But seriously this new concept of Galactica is to close to present day. It feels to familiar. The original by its execution in props and dialogue made you realize that this was another place in time and space. Ive heard people say hey no big deal about a strong female fighter pilot something new...NEW....these people arent real fans because if they were they would have remembered that alot of the pilots were in fact female including a sometimes cranky but very capable pilot called Sheba. She personafied the womens movement very well. What a man can do I can do better. No one wants to bring back the effects of the 70s get a life people and of course a newer version would reflect the times but dont get rid of the whole recipe.Well this new writer director tried but Richard Hatch should have been at the helm of this thing. Certainly it would not have been to far fetched to simply add a continuation of the original.. minus the last efforts made of course. Commander Apollo Adama, Possibly finding Starbuck Dirk Benedict morooned on a planet and then rescued by Apollo this because of the new threat posed by the newly vamped Cylons but please enough wth the sex around every bend. And nothing against the new Starbuck but she just comes across as a juvenile delinquent in the series and not an ace fighter pilot. Richard Hatch come back. The dignity, self assurance and professionalism not to mention the carisma that the old cast had are not evident here. Values family or otherwise? No where. Where was the actual invasion of the Cylons a few mushroom clouds in the distance? The old lets make em take the bodies of the humans trick...An inexpensive way out. Highly advanced cylons shooting missles??? This series had "Cut Corners All over it" Youre either a fan of the original or youre not. Every character in this thing is a rebel. The real fans wouldnt mind a new series but dont call it Galactica and alter everything about it.
Oh what could have been... Cassie could now had be a surgeon. Sheba the Commander of her own battlestar. The possiblities are endless. But NOT a remake! A real fan doesnt settle for less.
Rating: 
Summary: A Realistic Remake, But With a Few Flaws
Review: After ABC cancelled the very popular (but also very expensive) sci-fi television series "Battlestar Galactica" after its first and only 1978-1979 season, ABC attempted to revive the show a year later in a dismal, watered-down version called "Galactica 1980". Thankfully, "Galactica 1980" only lasted for seven episodes before it was also cancelled. 23 years would pass before another attempt to revive the never-forgotten television series would be made, this time by the Sci-Fi Channel as a 4-hour miniseries. With the latest computer-generated special effects at his disposal, director Michael Rymer (who is probably best known for directing the 2002 Anne Rice-inspired film "Queen of the Damned") took on the challenge of directing what was termed as a "re-imagined" version of the original 1978-1979 series. By "re-imagining", writer Ronald D. Moore (whose previous writing experience includes the 1987-1994 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV series, the 1993-1999 "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" TV series, the 1994 film "Star Trek: Generations", the 1995-2001 "Star Trek: Voyager" TV series and the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact") took the original "Battlestar Galactica" story that had been created by Glen A. Larson in the 1970's and changed several key plot elements. Namely, that the mechanized race known as the Cylons were created by humans instead of an extinct alien race more than 1000 years earlier, two key characters were changed from men from women, the formerly very close relationship between Commander Adama and his son Apollo became dysfunctional, the Cylons have created robots that appear human, and Baltar's involvement was changed from treason to ignorance. With these changes and greatly improved special effects, a much darker version of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies was created than in the original 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" 3-hour pilot. The visual image of seeing the major cities on the planet Caprica being bombed, the leaving behind of an uncounted number of human survivors on the twelve colonial planets and the abandonment of slower ships carrying survivors was far more realistic than in the original series. Unfortunately, the dysfunctional relationship between Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) and his son Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama (Jamie Bamber) tended to be a distraction from the overall plot. Further, the often-cold exterior portrayed by Edward James Olmos was in direct contrast to the very fatherly, caring and concerned Commander Adama that Lorne Green (1915-1987) portrayed in the original series. Jamie Bamber's portrayal of Apollo was also less inspiring Richard Hatch's portrayal in the original series. I do give credit to actress Katee Sackhoff for portraying a very prideful and insolent Lieutenant 'Starbuck'. She probably experienced more pressure than any other actor in the new miniseries because she needed to create a plausible female version of the cigar-smoking Starbuck, which had previously been a male character in the original series portrayed by the cigar-smoking Dirk Benedict. Actress Grace Park also did a good job with portraying a female version of the character Lieutenant Boomer, which had previously been a male character played by Herb Jefferson Jr. The female, human-appearing Cylon known as Number 6 (Tricia Helfer) came across as being somewhat one-dimensional, but being a machine, maybe that was what Michael Rymer was trying to achieve. The self-centered Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) was an interesting rework from what the character had been in the original series. Overall, I rate the 2003 "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries with 4 out of 5 stars. Many diehard fans of the original series may ultimately reject this new incarnation of the story, but it could be the beginning of a new series that won't erode the good qualities of its single-season predecessor. The only sad element to the new series is that there was no involvement from Richard Hatch, who for many years attempted to obtain the rights to the "Battlestar Galactica" story so that he could try to revive it. At least the new series creators did pay homage to the original series by using some of its music, having an original Cylon in a museum, and with some of the refugee ships being replicas of ones from the original series.
Rating:
Summary: Battlestar Galactica 2003 - More RELEVANT than the original!
Review: I was a fan of the original BG in 1978. I remembered Lorne Green from growing up watching Bonanza, for Kobol's sake! I never was into the disco craze, and the younger warriors of the original BG seemed to attend just one too many disco parties in their pretty uniform capes after their homeworlds had been blown to dust by the Cylons. As a viewer, I'm supposed to buy that? I don't think so, folks! BG 1978 was good campy entertainment back then. The premise held the potential of better storytelling, and if BG had lived long enough for Richard Hatch to have creative control over some episodes, I think he would have told magnificent Battlestar Galactica stories on the small screen. I also found it interesting that BG's philosophy reflected that of Glen A. Larson's Mormon faith. Having said all that, I, for one, find the new 2003 update far more relevant to the times we live in than the original BG ever was! The threat of being infiltrated by Cylons who look like humans resonates all too well in the post-9/11 world where we're told that anyone we talk to on the street could be either a terrorist or an Ashcroft Agent. Consider: In the real world of today, it is by now a well-known fact that Talibans and Al-Quaida terrorists were originally trained by the United States' own CIA when Afghanistan was occupied by Soviet forces in the 1980s. The 9/11 suicide-crashing of jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were done by agents who were either directly ot indirectly trained by - US !!! The parallel this with the 12 Colonies being infiltrated by lookalike Cylons, a community of artificial-intelligent beings revolting against their human master/creators, using sex appeal and sex itself to gain access to sensitive information, thus enabling them to deactivate humanity's defenses and destroy the human civilization is incredibly clear. And in the new version, the Colonial people all reacted to the situation most likely in the very same ways that real people two years ago reacted to the 9/11 attacks. Tell me the new Battlestar Galactica is not a far more relevant telling of the story than ever, but do so only if you have been living under a rock. With all due respects to Richard Hatch, a fine actor and talented writer in his own right, this 2003 re-telling of the tale carries the promise of a new, matured, and far more timely vision of Battlestar Galactica then anything we've ever seen on the screen. I enjoyed the original when I was younger, but even then I yearned for the social relevance of Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek. BG 2003 has started off with the intelligent writing needed to go farther, and I admire Ron Moore and the new production team for having the courage to "break the mold" and try for something totally new. I say, bring on the new series! Times change, and we have no choice but to change with them.
Rating: 
Summary: Needed more imagination
Review: I really can't recommend this miniseries, either for fans of the original or on its own. There were some interesting ideas and plot twists, and I liked the new mechanical cylons, but there were too many plot holes and unanswered questions, many of which have been addressed by previous reviewers (assuming Amazon doesn't delete them). Not to mention bad dialog and the overall souless feeling of the whole thing. I really found myself unable to care about any of the characters and whether they lived or died. Maybe the writers should have focused more on substance over sex. I also found the lack of background music rather jarring - the battle scenes often only had drums going in the background. Possibly this contributed to the soulessness feeling I mentioned above. If you're still so curious that you just have to see it, I recommend you rent it first, just in case you find it as disappointing as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Great show
Review: This was a great story that stayed generally true to the original. It actually improved on it, in my opinion, in certain respects. I'm grew up on the original, too, and I loved this version as well. There is something special here for the fans of the original show (including myself), if they could just get over their preconceived notions. Did purists *really* expect something 20+ years later to have the same production values? (Men in clunky metal suits!?! In 2003?) And the characterization was great! Starbuck and Boomer are characters, not genders, and Sackoff and Park made the roles their own. By the way, in the 'making of' this production, Dirk Benedict gave Sackoff an 'official Starbuck cigar' and wished her well with the role. It's nice to see some people aren't stuck in the past. If you'll forgive the comparison, this is a little like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet being re-made as West Side Story.
Both are classics, in other words. (And a quick aside: In Shakespeare's day, all the female characters were played by men.) 'Othello' was recently made into a film set in a high school, called 'O'. Creative liberties are taken with even the greatest playwrite of them all. So deal with it. It's first and foremost a science fiction story, and an excellent one at that. Kudos to Sci Fi channel, and everyone involved in the show.
Rating:
Summary: ...WE ARE AT WAR!
Review: I praise the makers of the new miniseries incorpoarting some of the good stuff of the old series and adding a whole new level to this reborn myth. I really liked the way the screenwriters had the story changed to fit in our present time. You simply can't go with "And when the humans got deeper into space, the evil Cylons attacked..." Far too simple and old.
The new designs are exceptional - when looking at the new Cylon fleet - the centurions and the humanoid cylons it just feels great. I also favor the idea of working with more female characters, developing new levels of interest and therefore making way for a change in getting to relationships shaping up the main characters. I really liked Boomer and Number Six. Cool characters. I also have to add, that I'm a female 26 year old from Germay, not some nerdy fanboy.
Most immpressive are the all-out battles in space. Very stylisch CG-cmaerawork, great models and innovative action. YOu'll see some of the most elaborate comabt maneuvers in the series. I might add, that the CG-battles in outer space are almost on the high standard of cinematic technology. It simply blew me awy. i didn't expect that.
I really don't understand that the old series' fanboys are just trying to wreck this new start. I am so glad they made this miniseries - hopefully this will shatter some of the memory of one-dimensional storylies, lame repeated effect-shots and...Boxey.
The only things I really liked in the old series were Lucifer and the Cylon overlord. Very funny. And one episode was great. I don't remeber the exact name , but it was about Starbuck and a Cylon shot down on some deserted remote planet. It was the best episode I ever saw.
I recommend buying his series and having the pilot of the old movie. The old series is worth almost nothing, because of the repeated stuff and many boring episodes.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than I thought it would be, but...
Review: ...not for Battlestar Galactica fans. I had initially written character reviews of the principal characters' positive and negative points, but someone either at Amazon (or elsewhere?) decided to edit my post and only leave the beginning sentence and the last two paragraphs of my original post. Regardless of the fact that I revealed no more of the plot than has previously (and still) existed on this forum, it was still edited. None of my commentary could be considered inflamatory or in bad taste. More than half of my original review is gone. I would appreciate an explanation, though I'm positive that any request along these lines will be ignored due to the fact that Amazon states that all reviews become their property upon submission. Though I will not spend the time again expressing my views here in detail, I will just say that the reimagined characters are a pale comparison to the original series. What follows is all that remains of my original post. I'll just have to wait and see if this edit makes the cut. If not, I'll move to another forum. Decern what information you can from the following. Some of the Cylons now look human, but it's never explained how they got that way. The shiny centurions are no where to be found, but their replacements are now scary looking robots that more effectively convey the mechanical nature of the race than the originals. Staying in this same vein, the Cylon fighters are no longer piloted. Instead, the craft itself is a big Cylon. Makes sense. Why would a machine pilot a machine? The Galactica is an old museum piece which is decomissioned but resurrected after a Cylon computer virus allows the complete destruction of 12 planets within hours. Supposedly, the Galactica's level of technology is rudimentary enough that it is not affected by this virus. (Galactica isn't networked) The virus being used as a plot device to explain the ease of the humans' destruction seems a little too convenient to me. They could have tried a little harder there. Also, the fact that the colonies are using projectile weapons in space seems a little strange. Machine guns in space? Bullets? Not to mention that both sides carried missiles and nukes. (replete with directional fins and winding contrails spewing out behind them!) What? No land mines?! Despite the shortcomings noted above, I was still rather surprised that it was as good as it was. They did a pretty decent job of making a sci fi adventure. They just should have worked on the characters a little more before trying to replace the originals.
Rating:
Summary: George Lucas should have made as good as a show...
Review: OK, I loved the original BG but after 20-odd years, the BG series is best watched by yourself when you are skipping work by staying home. Watching it with others present in the room will cause you to put it down and laugh at the silliness. However, when SciFi channel presented a new BG, I was very intrigued. After watching all 4 hours of it, I am now super pissed off at George Hucas. How dare he give us that Star Wars jar jar binks crap when SciFi channel can show an EXCELLENT movie such as BG and have me hooked from the opening credits to the closing credits....and still wanting more! This show was dark, creepy, technologically correct, and super entertaining. In fact, this movie was as good as a book - books draw much of their power for what they do not "show" you - your brain imagines it... Same with BG, you fill in the blanks and the movie carries you right along. HIGHLY recommended! You will not be disappointed. If you liked Star Wars (the original) you will like this movie and its updated story line. If you liked jar jar binks, then do us all a favor and go watch something else...like the original BG and muffet the electronic dog.
Rating:
Summary: What a load of felgercarb
Review: I don't know what I was expecting when I began watching this, but it left me dumbfounded. There was no plot. You know, the thing that builds tension until it reaches a climax? It didn't have one of those. It was just boring, melodramatic scenes interspersed with action scenes, seemingly paced so as to keep the kiddies interested. The action scenes weren't even exciting. In the original Battlestar Galactica, you had a pilot's-eye view of the battles; Vipers getting in behind the Cylon ships, firing laser bolts, blasting them to bits. "Watch out Starbuck, there's one on your tail!" In this show, you get a screen full of dozens of CGI ships, heading in dozens of directions, firing bazillions of laser bolts...you can't tell who's winning or even who's who. But that's not the point - you're supposed to be impressed by how much money was spent on the computer graphics. As far as the melodrama, it fails miserably. The characters are not likeable, and the attempts at emotional manipulation of the audience are blatant. Like a Lifetime movie of the week dealing with a small child slowly dying of a disease; cut to close-up of child's sad little face, pause for audience to grab a fresh Kleenex. This is so typically Hollywood - the characters "have issues". Dysfunctional relationships abound. Fans of the Sally Jesse Raphael show will feel right at home. All in all, this thing makes the original Battlestar seem like pure brilliance in every way. The writers of that show had an innate sense of drama, they wrote likeable characters, we cared. This mess? I think I deserve a prize for actually sitting through the whole thing.
Rating:
Summary: BSG Purists make me laugh
Review: I grew up with the show, and liked it at the time. Today, it makes me laugh. How many times can you re-hash the same fight scenes? How many times do I have to see the same, no-dimensional characters involved in stupid plots? What's really important about the original is the nostalgia, not the product. I know, it's hard to see things you like change. But it's also hard to see the things you like stay the same. The old show wasn't "good" as much as it was "new". If they re-hashed the same show, it wouldn't be new anymore, just a tired, old, stupid sci-fi show. It's pathetic how most of the bad reviews were posted before the show aired. The people that posted them are probably sitting in their bean bag chairs, combing their mullets, and jamming to Boston. Grow up already! Things change. Sometimes, as in the case of the BSG miniseries, they change for the better.
| 
